I need a beginners routine

I usually running Bill Starr, CrossFit, or High Intensity Push/Pull/Legs, depending on the time of year and purpose. Now a bunch of my buddies decided to start/restart working out, and I'm at a loss for what to recommend because they are all at a beginners level and have contrasting body types.

I need something relatively simple to at least get them to the point where we can at least work out together with different weight. Also, a few of them are pretty uncoordinated, so cleans and the like are probably best left aside for now. Any direction will help, because I can barely remember a time when I couldn't do a pull-up.

I usually running Bill Starr, CrossFit, or High Intensity Push/Pull/Legs, depending on the time of year and purpose. Now a bunch of my buddies decided to start/restart working out, and I'm at a loss for what to recommend because they are all at a beginners level and have contrasting body types.

I need something relatively simple to at least get them to the point where we can at least work out together with different weight. Also, a few of them are pretty uncoordinated, so cleans and the like are probably best left aside for now. Any direction will help, because I can barely remember a time when I couldn't do a pull-up.

Doesn't matter what their body types are. Give them a general conditioning programme - here's some examples:

Originally Posted by Rosie Scott

Resistance Training

If you are a beginner, you can start off with 2 days per week (Faigenbaum & McInnis, 2003). Otherwise, I would recommend a 3 or 4 day split. Each body part should be trained ONCE a week; this gives it plenty of time to recover before the next training session. For example, Monday = Legs & Abs, Tuesday = Chest & Back, Thursday = Shoulders & Traps, Friday = Arms & Abs. (You only need to do Abs twice a week; it works the same as any other body part).

Exercises that you should be doing are multijoint, compound exercises, as they use more than one muscle, and are the most effective for not only building muscle, but also in burning fat, because they are recruiting more of your body to perform the exercise (Heyward, 2006) than isolation exercises (these are a waste of time unless you are looking for a pump close to competition). The best compound exercises that you can do are the squat and the deadlift, as they use pretty much EVERY muscle in your body (Baechle, et al., 2000). Other compound exercises that are good to include are the power clean, bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, dips, and calf raises (the only isolation exercise that’s really good).

You should be doing at least 2 exercises for each muscle group, with 4 sets of 6-10 (even up to 12) reps per exercise, with 1-2 minutes recovery in between (the shorter the recovery, the lighter your weights will possibly be, which will give you a ‘cardio’ workout as well).

Be sure that you ALWAYS use good form for EVERY exercise; otherwise you are putting yourself at risk for injury. All reps should be CONTROLLED and with good form. It is not about how MUCH you can lift, but how WELL you lift. You WILL get stronger as you keep at it (although maybe not so much when trying to lose fat, but this depends on the individual).

You should never spend longer than 45-50 minutes in total lifting (i.e. your session should take that long from the time you walk in to the time you walk out, excluding if you do a warm-up – and this is strictly your own preference); otherwise you become too catabolic and can end up losing muscle.

You also need to change your weights programme around slightly every 4-6 weeks, just so that your body does not get used to it and stop adapting (Epley, 2004). This can be as little as changing the order of exercises in a session or the number of sets and/or reps that you do for an exercise (and it only needs to be one exercise changed at a time, small adjustments over the weeks).

Here’s a sample circuit plan for a beginner:

This is a very basic routine, designed to get you 'used' to resistance training and condition your body for it, building a base to work on, whilst also targeting your goals (Aaberg, 1999). After 4-6 weeks you will need to change your programme.

Instructions: Do an easy 10 minute warm-up. Select weights that you can do for said reps on each exercise (but not too much more), and use these for the entire session. Complete exercises in order from 1-8, with minimal recovery (ideally it should be moving from one exercise to another; but since you are a beginner 30-60 seconds will be ok). At the end of one set (i.e. 1-10) rest for 1-2 minutes, and then repeat. You can increase to 3 sets after 2-4 weeks (or as you see fit). Stretch full-body for 5 minutes after session. This should take ~45 minutes in TOTAL. Every week your weights should increase (i.e. not on ALL sessions, but keep weights the same for a week, and increase as you can for the next week's sessions), so that you keep challenging your body.

I highly recommend getting a personal trainer if you are a beginner, so that you can be shown the correct technique (very important) for each exercise. Personal trainers can be there with you for your first few sessions, to determine starting weights, as you get acquainted with resistance training. They also provide motivation, support, and a source for accountability.

Even go to 3x10 for most exercises (generally 10-12 reps is the norm for beginners). And get them to even do 3 days.

Originally Posted by Rosie Scott

The New Trainee

Two to three days a week are sufficient for beginners, with three days preferable, to get them conditioned and used to training. Each body part should be trained once a week - this gives plenty of time to recover before the next training session - and I recommend training the full-body, regardless if using the two or three day split, because working the full body produces more anabolic hormone than just doing the upper or lower body alone, recruits more motor units than working the upper or lower body alone, and the more motor units recruited per session, the greater the increase in neural activity, which will train the body to work more effectively as a whole, and therefore aid in better fat loss.

If you are a beginner, make sure that you always use good form for every exercise; otherwise you are putting yourself at risk for injury. All reps should be controlled and with good technique. It is not about how much you can lift, but how well you lift, and I highly recommend getting a personal trainer if you are just starting out, so that you can be shown the correct technique (very important) for each exercise.

I'm worried about Starting Strength because some of these guys have pretty bad coordination. Do you guys think SS is good for a total non-athlete? I love Rip, but I'm not sure his philosophy works for everyone.

I'm worried about Starting Strength because some of these guys have pretty bad coordination. Do you guys think SS is good for a total non-athlete? I love Rip, but I'm not sure his philosophy works for everyone.

Although you use "strength" exercises, you do NOT start out at Basic Strength with beginners. You start by conditioning their bodies to the exercise, with the programme written is for ‘conditioning’ only, to be used for “strengthening and stabilizing those areas that give us greatest support, along with any areas that are at the highest risk for injury . . . along with any other individual weak links present” (Aaberg, 1999, p. 59). It is also the time to establish good posture and technique - which are very important; wrong technique equals increased risk for injury.

I'm worried about Starting Strength because some of these guys have pretty bad coordination. Do you guys think SS is good for a total non-athlete? I love Rip, but I'm not sure his philosophy works for everyone.

It is if they are actually willing to put forth the effort to learn the lifts, and you are able to teach them.

Rip's program is good for beginners because it emphasises progression in the basic lifts, and will build a strength base real quick.

I'll agree with Rosie's post that some initial conditioning work wouldn't hurt.

A while back I put a sedentary friend of mine on Rip's and it took about 3 sessions of technique work with just the barbell, and stretching and what not to get the form down.

The hardest thing in my experience to teach sedentary people with poor posture and stiff flexibility is the deadlift. What really helped my friend learn to get his back in extension was hyperextensions, that and the superman stretch.

The press and bench press are pretty self explanatory and easy to teach, and unless one has athletic aspirations or for some reason wants to learn the oly lifts it's best to just omit the power clean and use the barbell row (another relatively easy lift to teach) instead. Another viable option, and safer alternative for a novice. over the barbell row is the dumbbell row, if one has a tendancy to round there back while doing the barbell rows.

So Starting Strength gets my vote as said, as long as they are willing to learn and you can guide them on it.

I know someone on starting strength, they have developed in 3 months the upper body strength of someone who would of been training for about 5 months on a BB routine, but not much size and the routine focuses a lot more on lower body than upper body so his upper body doesnt have much shape but he has put on a lot of size on his legs, I cant wait for him to switch over to a BB routine to see if the strength carries over to size.